The first successful living donor transplant was performed between 23-year-old identical twins in 1954. Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Mass., transplanted a healthy kidney from Ronald Herrick into his twin brother, Richard, who had chronic kidney failure. He went on to live an active, normal life. He died eight years later from causes unrelated to the transplant.
Which
live organs may be
donated?
A living donor may give a single kidney, a lobe of a lung or liver,
or a portion of the pancreas for transplant. A domino transplant makes
some heart-lung recipients living heart donors. When a patient receives
a heart-lung "bloc" from a cadaveric donor, his or her healthy heart
may be given to an individual waiting for a heart transplant if the
physicians determine that the cadaveric donor lungs will function best
if they are used in conjunction with the cadaveric donor heart.
Number of Living Donor Transplants in the United States from 1988 to 1999 (based on UNOS Scientific Registry data as of September 5, 2000)
| Year | Kidney | Pancreas | Liver | Heart | Lung | Total |
| 1988 | 812 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1824 |
| 1989 | 1903 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1918 |
| 1990 | 2094 | 2 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 2123 |
| 1991 | 2393 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 2424 |
| 1992 | 2536 | 3 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 2573 |
| 1993 | 2850 | 2 | 36 | 2 | 7 | 2897 |
| 1994 | 3008 | 2 | 60 | 3 | 15 | 3088 |
| 1995 | 3360 | 7 | 46 | 0 | 23 | 3436 |
| 1996 | 3606 | 11 | 53 | 1 | 20 | 3691 |
| 1997 | 3856 | 6 | 71 | 0 | 18 | 3951 |
| 1998 | 4154 | 2 | 72 | 0 | 24 | 4552 |
| 1999 | 4474 | 2 | 219 | 1 | 5 | 4714 |
What
are the qualifications for becoming a living donor?
To qualify as a living organ donor, an individual must be physically
fit, in good general health, and not have high blood pressure, diabetes,
cancer, kidney disease, and heart disease. Individuals are usually between
18-60 years of age. Gender and race do not matter.
Will donating a kidney prevent you from becoming pregnant or fathering a child? No.
Are
there health risks?
Death from kidney donation is extremely rare (about 3 in 10,000). Donating
a kidney does not change your life expectancy. It does not increase
your chance of kidney failure. Research studies shows that kidney donation
does not appear to put donors at any increased risk for future health
problems.
Can
someone with Herpes become a donor?
Having herpes does not absolutely rule someone out for donation but
the disease should be quiet and well-suppressed at the time of donation.
What
does "living kidney donation" mean?
It means donation by a living donor of a kidney for transplantation,
as opposed to a "cadaveric kidney", which comes from a deceased donor.
What
are the advantages of a living kidney transplant?
It has been shown that the chances of a successful transplant are better
with living donor organ than with cadaveric kidneys. Patients are spared
the often grueling years of waiting spent on hemodialysis (blood cleansing)
or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).
Kidney dialysis normally reduces the patient's fitness for work by half, which means changes at the workplace and lower career prospects. The patient's diet must consist of are an extremely low-salt foods and minimal fluid intake. The need to choose a destination with dialysis facilities restricts the patient's opportunities to travel or go away on vacation. It is also common for the patient's relationship to suffer, since sexual problems may arise due to reduced libido or impotence.
Plus, living kidney transplants are more successful, and the closer the blood relationship, the better the results. Surprisingly, however, living kidney donations from non-blood-related partners also show high success rates - even with quite different histocompatibility antigens.
When
it is time to consider donation?
When someone has lost 85 to 90 percent of his or her kidney function,
either dialysis (removal of wastes from the blood by an artificial kidney
machine) or a kidney transplant is necessary. When there is a living
donor organ available, the transplant can be scheduled before dialysis
and all that it entails must be started.
Do some people have trouble making the decision to become a living organ donor? Sure. Though some people will make the decision without a second thought, others go through a bit of soul-searching before deciding. It's very normal to be afraid of giving away part of your body and to experience guilt about not wanting to be a donor.
